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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Nutrition Debate #275: “The Weight of the Nation”

I learned recently that among our neighbors in this
valley community is producer John Hoffman, Founder and CEO of HBO’s “The Public
Good Projects.” Among its noted productions is the 2012 series, “The Weight of
the Nation.” On the chance that I might meet Mr. Hoffman at a holiday party, I
decided to watch all four “Main Films.” In anticipation I took copious notes to
share some good news with my readers as we embark on the New Year. Sadly, I was
largely disappointed.

These feature-length films, all available now on
YouTube, are: Consequences, Choices, Children in
Crisis and Challenges. Each feature is divisible
into finite chapters capable of being linked and shared. Each film is very well
produced and deals thoroughly and comprehensively with “the problem” – in the
sense that it accurately portrays the obesity epidemic in America, and
accurately depicts the timeline in which it developed. There’s also a small segment of very good science on
the “ancestral” POV, so again, I was hoping that the producers would reach the
logical conclusion and make “the turn.”

I was hoping that, given the agreed-upon time line
for the start of the dramatic upswing in weight, and this “ancestral”
perspective, the producers would correctly “nail” the problem: Government’s
insistence since 1977 (“The McGovern Commission Report”), and 1980 (the first
iteration of the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans”), that we eat a low-fat
(high carb) diet. The well-meaning bureaucrats and their minions had begun the
largest public health experiment in history, encompassing virtually every
American. Palpably, it has been a catastrophic failure.

My hopes were high. That pre-disposition is always
my bias. Besides, if I don’t lean that way, the tsunami of bad nutritional
advice out there would “swamp my boat.” So, my ears perked up when I heard,
“What makes me frustrated bordering on angry is the fact that this [obesity
epidemic] is preventable.” I think it was said by Robert Lustig, MD, the
pediatric endocrinologist whose 2009 YouTube video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” went viral. Other quotes
of his were, “…insulin is not working well at the level of the cells,” “…juice
and juice drinks are as bad as soda,” and “sugar is where you start.” He also
asked, “What changed in the last 30 years to make this obesity epidemic
happen?” His answer: “In the last 30 years our DNA has not changed, but our
environment has.” I waited for him to
amplify, but alas, neither he nor I produced this film.

Lustig was practically the only ray of hope I saw in
this four-plus-hour presentation. The preponderance of experts said stuff like,
“The reason we have government in the first place is to solve problems
collectively that we can’t solve individually.” (Thomas Farley, NYC Health
Commissioner); “We could have eaten better. We don’t have to have steak, and we
don’t have to have roast beef,” and “Eat less, exercise more, eat a balanced
diet.” (Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health); “For all
intents and purposes, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie; energy-in equals
energy-out.” (Rudolph Leibel, Co-Director of the NYC Obesity Research Center at
Columbia University); and “Follow a medically advised diet.” (Kelly Brownell,
PhD, Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale
University).

My favorite “quote” from my scribbled notes was from
Courtney Rowe, Deputy Communications Director of the by-definition-compromised
USDA: “While it is unfortunate that some in Congress choose to bow to special
interests, the USDA remains committed to practical science-based standards for
school meals that improve the health of our children.” N.B.: Rowe was
Communication Director for the Senate Agriculture Committee when Dems
controlled the Senate.

It would be less ironic if this political-pot-shot
from Rowe in “Children in Crisis” (Part 3) hadn’t been followed in “Challenges”
(Part 4) with these facts: 1) Government subsidy programs are heavily tilted
toward the large commodity crops of wheat, corn, sugar and dairy, 2) livestock
and poultry feed are subsidized indirectly by cheap feed: corn, soy and other
grains, 3) “it is government policy to overproduce what we are already
overeating,” and 4) 50% of U.S. farmland is planted in corn and soybeans). I
think these points were made by David Wallinga, MD, at the Institute of
Agriculture and Trade Policy, who deserves to be promoted (or fired). Eric
Finkelstein, an economist at Duke University, added, “Obesity rates correlate
with corn and soy production.” (low-cost HFCS and soy-based fats and oils).

But this “Documentary” (Commercial?) concludes with
Daniel Glickman, former Secretary of Agriculture and current Chair, Committee
on Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention, saying in a voiceover, “To be
healthy we need to eat healthy and exercise more.” The video clip shows a guy
on a treadmill saying, “I needed to do something” (about weight). I think it
was Mayor Dean of Nashville, TN, who added greenways for cyclists and parks in
poor neighborhoods.

The old saw, “Your zip code matters more than your
genetic code,” has now evolved to, “Being wealthy is not nearly as protective
against obesity as it used to be.” I like it because it brings us back to how what we eat has changed, and again to David Wallinga: The increase in calories
in our diet, he says, is attributable to “25% added sugars from corn, 25% added
fat from soy, and 50% refined grains from corn starches, wheat, and the like.”
The result: food costs ↓; health costs ↑.

N.B. “The Weight of the Nation” was produced by a
partnership of “HBO Documentary Films and the Institute of Medicine, in
association with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National
Institutes of Health, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and Kaiser
Permanente.” That means they paid for these films. At least it wasn’t Cargill
and ADM, directly…

3 comments:

At this point in my writing career, I simply want to get more visibility for your writing and I will write for free as long as you are okay with me adding a small author bio section next to each blog post about myself.Thank you, friend! I got A for this essay! I really appreciate that! I will undoubtedly choose you for my paper next time! Best regards.Facebook Video Downloader

About Me

I was diagnosed a Type 2 diabetic in 1986. I started a Very Low Carb diet (Atkins Induction) in 2002 to lose weight. I didn’t realize at the time that it would put my diabetes in clinical remission, or that I would be able to give up almost all of my oral diabetes meds. I also didn’t understand that, as I lost weight and continued to eat Very Low Carb, my blood lipids would dramatically improve (doubling my HDL and cutting my triglycerides by 2/3rds) and that my blood pressure would drop from 130/90 to 110/70 on the same meds.
Over the years I changed from Atkins to the Bernstein Diet (designed for diabetics) and, altogether lost 170 pounds. I later regained some and then lost some. As long as I eat Very Low Carb, I am not hungry and I have lots of energy. And I no longer have any of the indications of Metabolic Syndrome.
My goal, as long as I have excess body fat, is to remain continuously in a ketogenic state, both for blood glucose regulation and continued weight loss. I expect that this regimen will continue to provide the benefits of reduced systemic inflammation, improved blood lipids and lower blood pressure as well.